Michigan State vs. Nebraska: Score, Reaction from 2016 Regular Season

Another night in college basketball, another Top 25 team goes down.

This time it was the No. 11 Michigan State Spartans falling at home to the unranked Nebraska Cornhuskers on Wednesday, 72-71, and as SportsCenter highlighted, the Spartans are in quite a rut, at least by their standards:

Nebraska officially has a legitimate winning streak against its Big Ten foe, according to the team's official twitter account:

It didn't come easy for the Huskers, who led by six with 1:54 remaining in the game. Nebraska had to survive this miracle shot from Michigan State's Denzel Valentine that cut the lead to one with five seconds remaining, via Michigan State on BTN:    

Yahoo Sports' Pat Forde worried the shot was going to be bad for Nebraska head coach Tim Miles' health:

Valentine scored a team-high 24 points but missed a jumper at the buzzer that would have given Michigan State the win, via the Big Ten Network:

Player of the Game honors went to Nebraska's Shavon Shields, who scored a game-high 28 points. Of Shields' 12 made field goals, this runner in traffic might have had the highest degree of difficulty, via Nebraska Basketball:

His jumper with 17 seconds remaining gave the Huskers a 72-68 lead and just enough of a cushion to hold on for the victory. Glynn Watson Jr. added 13 points for Nebraska, while Tai Webster contributed 10 points, seven rebounds and three assists.

Michigan State was playing for the second straight game without point guard Lourawls "Tum Tum" Nairn, who is out indefinitely with plantar fasciitis. His absence was evident in the loss, per Sam Vecenie of CBSSports.com:

Nebraska took advantage midway through the second half with a 12-0 run that turned a 56-51 deficit into a 63-56 lead after a Shields layup. The crowd was sensing the upset, per Nebraska Basketball:

The run reached 13-0, after which the Spartans got as close as three until Valentine hit that crazy shot from beyond the arc.

The Huskers now sit at 4-3 in the Big Ten, a game ahead of 3-4 Michigan State. This win should provide some momentum as they prepare for a tough three-game stretch against the Michigan Wolverines, the No. 22 Purdue Boilermakers and the No. 7 Maryland Terrapins.

Life doesn't get any easier for the Spartans, as they will try to end their losing streak Saturday against Maryland, most likely without the services of Nairn and his 4.5 assists per game.

Postgame Reaction

Even though the Huskers have fared well against Michigan State lately, this was not their average win, per ESPN Stats & Info:

Miles couldn't explain his team's recent dominance over the Spartans, per Joe Rexrode of the Detroit Free Press:

Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo recognized his team, ranked No. 1 earlier in the season, clearly has issues to resolve, per the Associated Press, via ESPN.com.

"There's blood in the water right now," he said. "The sharks are coming."

The Huskers are trending in the other direction, and Shields understands how much this means for his team, per the Associated Press. "That's really big for our program," Shields said. "They're a great team."